P (Nazi symbol)

The"P" symbol^[1]or"P" badge^[2]was introduced on 8 March 1940 by the Nazi GermanyGeneral Governmentin relation to the requirement thatPolishworkers (Zivilarbeiter)used during World War II as forced laborers in Germany(following theGerman invasion and occupation of Polandin 1939) display a visible symbol marking their ethnic origin. The symbol was introduced with the intent to be used as a cloth patch, which indeed was the most common form, but also reproduced on documents (through stamps) and posters. The badge was intended to be humiliating,^[2]^[3]and like the similar Jewish symbol, can be seen as abadge of shame.^[4]

Polish-forced-workers'*Zivilarbeiter*badge

Design and usage

The design was introduced in thePolish decrees(laws concerning Polish workers in Germany) on 8 March 1940.^[2]The symbol was a diamond with sides of five centimeters. The border (about half a centimetre wide) and the letter P (two and a half centimetres tall) were violet, while the inside of the symbol was yellow.^[5]^[3]The letter "P" badge was to be worn on the right breast of every garment worn. Those who did not obey the rules were subject to a fine of up to 150 Reichsmarks and arrested with a possible penalty of six weeks' detention.^{[citation needed]}

The choice of color and shape might have been chosen to avoid any association withthe national symbols of Poland.^[3]It was the first official, public badge-like mark intended for identification of individuals based on their racial or ethnic origin (or other social characteristics) introduced inNazi Germany,preceding the better-known "Jewish yellow star"badge introduced a year later, in September 1941.^[2]

In January 1945 theCentral Office for Reich Securityproposed a new design for a Polish badge, a yellow ear of corn on a red and white label, but it was never implemented.^[3]

Examples of usage

Arbeitsbuch Für Ausländer(Workbook for Foreigners) identity document issued to a Polish Forced Labourer in 1942 together with a letter "P" patch that Poles were required to wear attached to their clothing
Anti-Polish poster published byVolksbund für das Deutschtum im Ausland(Association for 'Germanness' abroad)Gauverband Danzig Westpreußen(Association of the "shire or county", Gdansk, West Prussia)

References

^Friedlander, Henry; Milton, Sybil (1989).Archives of the Holocaust: an international collection of selected documents.Garland. p. 725.ISBN 978-0-8240-5483-0.
^^a ^b ^c ^dUlrich Herbert (1997).Hitler's Foreign Workers: Enforced Foreign Labor in Germany Under the Third Reich.Cambridge University Press. pp. 8, 72, 321.ISBN 978-0-521-47000-1.
^^a ^b ^c ^d"The letter" P "".Porta Polonica.Retrieved30 June2015.
^D'Ancona, Jacob (2003).The City Of Light.New York: Citadel. pp. 23–24.ISBN 0-8065-2463-4.But the wearing of a badge or outward sign — whose effect, intended or otherwise, successful or not, was to shame and to make vulnerable as well as to distinguish the wearer…
^Studia ślas̨kie(in Polish). 1966. p. 282.

P (Nazi symbol)

Design and usage

Examples of usage

See also

References

Further reading